Mistrust for media runs deep in Kashmir

Twenty-six-year-old Gulzar Ahmad may be just a farm labourer from a sleepy town in Kashmir’s Baramulla district, but he is no stranger to media attention. He first tasted the spotlight in 2014 when he stepped out of his house to collect water and before he realised it, was hit by an Army bullet on his stomach.

As the news of this incident spread, he soon found himself amidst mini media frenzy.

Sitting in a corner of his room, almost cloaked in darkness, Gulzar shows little hesitation in narrating his experience to “reporters” from both television and print. “They played me like a toy,” he exclaims, as he pulls up his shirt to show the marks left by the bullet and the subsequent surgeries. “I was in pain. Bedridden, I could not move much when I met the reporters. They came with their cameramen. But what they actually published was far from the truth,” says Gulzar.

“I told the reporters that I got shot right outside my house but what they put in their reports was that I was in the market when the bullet hit me,” he adds. The nearest market is at least two kilometres away from his house.

Incidentally, when Gulzar was shot, a magistrate’s car was also attacked and damaged near a bridge in Baramulla. Even though he had no role in the incident, Gulzar says he was held responsible for damaging the car, in media reports. “I was labelled a balwani (rebel in Kashmiri).”

Based on these news reports, seven FIRs were allegedly registered against Gulzar and he came under the police’s radar for being a “balwani”.

It took him one year and `9 lakhs to get on to the road to recovery. He had even lost the ability to walk but with his family’s support and sheer will power, Gulzar pushed himself back onto his feet.

Although it has been two years, the wounds inflicted by the CRPF and the media emotionally haunt him every day. Such is his distrust of the media that he refuses to reveal his real name; he would also make it a point to hide his face sitting in a dark room. He does not approve of being photographed either. “I have to visit the police station every now and then so that they can keep tabs on me. I do not want to be made into a false news piece again. I do not want any more trouble,” he says with folded hands.

Violence and conflict in Kashmir may have accelerated now but the distrust for the media runs deep in the Valley.

Last year, a five-year-old boy from Srinagar was injured by pellets shot by CRPF jawans. The injury was so grave that his hand had to be amputated, but even then the boy did not survive. The story made news in the state. Soon after though, the child’s father, a poor labourer who used to live in a shanty by the road, was allegedly picked up by the jawans and beaten up, claim sources who do not wish to be named.

Misrepresentation of facts is another allegation that the people from Jammu and Kashmir have heaped on the media. Asma Dhar, who works with a local NGO, Save the Children, feels the media has misrepresented facts on several occasions.

“During the flood that hit Kashmir in September 2014, most of the news channels here showed only what the Army was doing to help the affected people. It felt like a pro-Army campaign,” Ms Dhar said. She also claims that the video footage from the flood was used later when there was fears of another flood due to a cloud burst in December 2014.

She also said that most media reports seemed inherently like the voice of the government. The voice of the Kashmiris is rarely heard. And even if they were, the facts and quotes are often misrepresented, says Ms Dhar.

Last month, chief minister of J&K Mehbooba Mufti had also stressed on newspapers investigating their story before publishing them. This came in after the state government was accosted by a copy of a leading Kashmiri daily that claimed that J&K was setting up a separate enclave for Army personnel.

Ms Mufti refuted these claims and reportedly said in the state Assembly, “I do not know what these newspapers want. Do they want to set the state on fire They should have investigated before publishing the story.”

Kashmiri journalist Zaffar Iqbal is accustomed to the anger and distrust among the people. He works for a national television channel and believes that it is the people’s expectations with the media that have resulted in their eventual disappointment.

“When events get covered by the local media in Kashmir, they get played up a lot but the same events may not be too relevant on the national level and hence they are either played down or are not taken up in television bulletins. But this does not mean that the region has been ignored by the national media,” says Iqbal. He goes on to use the Amarnath land transfer controversy of 2008 as an example to explain the difference in coverage of local news channel and a national news channel.

Commenting about the apparent lack of warmth between the civilians and mediapersons, Iqbal said that it would be wrong to speculate that Kashmiris are not open to interacting with journalists.

“It really depends on the situation. In general, there is a lot of anger among the people here so even if there have been incidents where the people have refused to speak with the media, it would have been a way for them to vent their anger and frustration,” says the senior journalist.